Tomaszewski ‘will be supporting Poland during Euro 2012’ says party leader

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Monday: photo - PAP/Adam Warżawa

“My colleagues and I will all be rooting for Poland during Euro 2012,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski has said.

Tomaszewski – who is etched in the memory of older England fans as the keeper who kept out a barrage of shots on goal at Wembley in 1973 to deny the team a place in the World Cup in West Germany the following year – and who is now an MP for the conservative Law and Justice party, said earlier this month: “I will not be cheering for Poland [during Euro 2012]. This is not my team.”

Tomaszewski claimed that Poland’s national team coach Franciszek Smuda has failed to support homegrown talent and said that the coach has chosen for his Euro 2012 squad, "a player who has been convicted of corruption, a Frenchman and two Germans who have already played for France and Germany."

Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has said, however, that Tomaszewski will indeed be supporting the Polish national team at the tournament, which begins on 8 June.

The Polish team will be taking on Latvia in the first of two warm up friendlies tonight as part of its preparations for Euro 2012.

Poland will be in Group A during the tournament, alongside Greece, Russia and the Czech Republic. (pg)